writer and journalist

About

Josh is a freelance journalist based in Cambridge, Mass. He is a regular contributor to EurasiaNet and Jane's and his articles also have appeared in Slate, The New York Times,, The Wilson Quarterly, The Atlantic, ForeignPolicy.com, Al Jazeera English, The Diplomat, and U.S. News and World Report. He blogs on Eurasian defense and security at The Bug Pit. Follow him on Twitter at @joshuakucera and @TheBugPit, and on Facebook. See more here.

May 12, 2011

Georgia's Dangerous Quest for American Weapons - The Atlantic

I have a piece on The Atlantic's website on Georgia's attempts to buy, or be given, U.S. weapons:

But the issue of American weapons has now come to define the state of the U.S.-Georgia relationship, with Georgia and its allies in Washington arguing that if the U.S. doesn't give Georgia weapons, it's kowtowing to Russia for the sake of a wishful-thinking "reset." U.S. Senator John McCain is the leading advocate for weapons provisions; in March he told a Congressional hearing, "It is hard for me to understand, since the Russians still occupy territory that is clearly Georgian territory and continue to threaten Georgia, and yet we're not even giving them weapons with which to defend themselves. It is not comprehensible."

Georgia's last ambassador to Washington was relieved of his duties, it was reported, because of his failure to get arms from the U.S. Georgia spent about $1.5 million on four top D.C. lobbying firms last year alone, far outpacing comparable countries. Those lobbying efforts include an aggressive press campaign arguing that the State Department is enforcing a "de facto embargo" by quietly blocking Georgia's attempted arms purchases, although there is no evidence of such an embargo.